Establishing community mental health clinics increased the number of patients receiving care in rural Western Uganda.

Background: Mental, neurological, and substance-use disorders cause medium to long term disability in all countries. They are amenable to treatment but often treatment is only available in hospitals, as few staff feel competent to give treatment. The WHO developed the "Mental Health GAP" (mhGAP) course to train non-specialist clinical staff in basic diagnosis and treatment. At Bwindi Community Hospital, in south-west Uganda, mental health care was initially only provided at the hospital. It was extended outside the hospital in two implementation phases, initially by establishing 17 clinics in the community, run by qualified mental health staff from the hospital. In the second implementation phase staff in 12 health centers were trained using mhGAP and ran their own clinics under supervision. Methods: Using routine data the defined data variables for the individuals attending the clinics was extracted. Results: A total of 2,617 people attended a mental health care clinic in the study period between January 2016 and March 2020. Of these 1,051 people attended more than once. The number of patients attending clinics increased from 288 during the baseline to 693 in the first implementation phase then to 839 patients in the second implementation phase. After mhGAP training, about 30% of patients were seen locally by mhGAP trained healthcare personnel. The average number of mental health patients seen each month increased from 12 to 65 over the time of the study. The number of patients living >20 km from the hospital increased from 69 in the baseline to 693 in the second implementation phase. The proportion of patients seen at the hospital clinic dropped from 100% to 27%. Conclusions: Providing mental health care in the community at a distance from the hospital substantially increased the number of people accessing mental health care. Training health center-based staff in mhGAP contributed to this. Not all patients could appropriately be managed by non-specialist clinical staff, who only had the five-day training in mhGAP. Supplies of basic medicines were not always adequate, which probably contributed to patients being lost to follow-up. About 50% of patients only attend the clinic once. Further work is required to understand the reasons.

Screening, Diagnosis, and Management of Patients With Alcohol Use Disorders at Bwindi Community Hospital, Uganda.

Introduction: The harmful use of alcohol is a growing global public health concern, with Sub-Saharan Africa at particular risk. A large proportion of adults in Uganda consume alcohol and the country has a high prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUD), almost double that for the African region as a whole. Bwindi Community Hospital, in rural western Uganda, recently introduced a program of screening, diagnosis and management of AUD and we assessed how this worked. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in three departments (out-patients, adult in-patients and sexual & reproductive health) of Bwindi Community Hospital assessing numbers of patients screened, diagnosed and treated with AUD between January 2014 and June 2017. Data sources included the hospital electronic data base and departmental case files. Frequencies and proportions are reported and odds ratios used to compare specific factors associated with medical interventions. Results: Altogether, 82,819 patients attended or were admitted to hospital, of whom 8,627 (10.4%) were screened and 273 (3.2%) diagnosed with AUD. The adult in-patient department recorded the largest number with AUD (n = 206) as well as a consistent increase in numbers in the last 18 months of the study. Of those with AUD, there were 230 (84%) males, 130 (48%) aged 36-60 years, and 131 (48%) with medical non-alcohol related diagnostic categories. Medical/supportive interventions included guidance and counselling to 168 (62%), community social support to 90 (33%), mental health service referrals for 75 (27%), detoxification for 60 (22%) and referral to Alcoholics Anonymous for 41 (15%). There were 36 (15%) patients who received no medical/supportive interventions, with significantly higher proportions in patients with surgical alcohol-related disease and pregnancy-related conditions (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Bwindi Community Hospital has implemented a program for AUD in three departments, with most individuals screened and managed in the adult in-patient department. While a variety of interventions were given to those with AUD, 15% received no intervention and this deficiency must be addressed. Program performance could improve through better screening processes, ensuring that 100% of those with AUD receive a medical/supportive intervention and raising public awareness.

Mental illness in Bwindi, Uganda: Understanding stakeholder perceptions of benefits and barriers to developing a community-based mental health programme.

BACKGROUND: Mental illness has been increasingly recognised as a source of morbidity in low- and middle-income countries and significant treatment gaps exist worldwide. Studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of task sharing through community-based treatment models for addressing international mental health issues. AIM: This paper aims to evaluate the perceptions of a wide range of mental health stakeholders in a Ugandan community regarding the benefits and barriers to developing a community-based mental health programme. SETTING: Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH) in south-west Uganda provides services through a team of community health workers to people in the Kanungu District. METHODS: Thematic analysis of 13 semi-structured interviews and 6 focus group discussions involving 54 community members and 13 mental health stakeholders within the BCH catchment area. RESULTS: Stakeholders perceived benefits to a community-based compared to a hospital-based programme, including improved patient care, lower costs to patients and improved community understanding of mental illness. They also cited barriers including cost, insufficient workforce and a lack of community readiness. CONCLUSIONS: Stakeholders express interest in developing community-based mental health programmes, as they feel that it will address mental health needs in the community and improve community awareness of mental illness. However, they also report that cost is a significant barrier to programme development that will have to be addressed prior to being able to successfully establish such programming. Additionally, many community members expressed unique sociocultural beliefs regarding the nature of mental illness and those suffering from a psychiatric disease.

Community perceptions of mental illness in rural Uganda: An analysis of existing challenges facing the Bwindi Mental Health Programme.

OBJECTIVES: To assess community perceptions of mental illness in the Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH) catchment area: to recognise beliefs about the causes and the treatments for mental illness. To provide community data to staff at BCH as they work to develop more effective community mental health programmes. BACKGROUND: A shortage of mental health providers in Uganda has prompted research into community-based task-sharing models for the provision of mental health services in underserved communities. METHODS: Six focus group discussions, with a total of 54 community members (50% male, n = 27; mean age + s.d. [39.9 + 10.9 years]) from the BCH catchment area, were conducted to assess community member and stakeholder perceptions of mental illness and belief in the feasibility of community-based programming. Qualitative study of data through thematic analysis was conducted to assess the presence of commonly occurring perceptions. RESULTS: Qualitative thematic analysis revealed two major themes: (1) belief that any given patient's metal illness results from either an intrinsic or an extrinsic cause and (2) belief in a need to determine treatment of mental illness based on the believed cause. CONCLUSION: As BCH designs community-based mental health services, our findings provide support for the need for further education of community members and training of community health workers to address and integrate the above-stated beliefs regarding mental illness.

Community Health Volunteers in Primary Healthcare in Rural Uganda: Factors Influencing Performance.

INTRODUCTION: Community health volunteers (CHVs) play an integral role in primary healthcare. Several countries rely on CHV programs as a major element in improving access to care and attaining universal health coverage. However, their performance has been heterogeneous and at times context-specific, and influenced by multiple factors. We describe the socio-demographic and workplace characteristics affecting CHVs' performance in a public health program in rural western Uganda. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study based on routine program data of CHVs serving the catchment of Bwindi Community Hospital, Kanungu District, South Western Uganda, in 2014 and 2015. Information was collected on individual socio-demographic and workplace characteristics of the CHVs. To assess their work output, we defined study-specific targets in terms of attendance at monthly CHVs' meetings with community health nurses, households followed-up and reported, children screened for malnutrition, immunization coverage, and health facility deliveries. Frequencies and proportions are reported for characteristics and outputs and odds ratios for study-specific factors associated with overall performance. RESULTS: Of the 508 CHVs, 65% were women, 48% were aged 35 years and below, and 37% took care of more than the recommended 20-30 households. Seventy-eight percent of the CHVs had ≥80% of pregnant women under their care delivering in health units, 71% had ≥95% of the children on schedule for routine immunization, while 27% screened ≥75% of the children under 5 years for malnutrition. More refresher trainings was associated with better overall performance [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 12.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.6-93.6, P = 0.02] while overseeing more than the recommended 20-30 households reduced overall performance (aOR: 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4-0.9, P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Being in-charge of more than the recommended households was associated with reduced performance of CHVs, while more refresher trainings were associated with improved performance. If the CHVs are to remain a strategic pillar in universal health coverage, it is imperative to address those factors known to impact on their performance.